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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Optimistic Start to 2013: Facts and Figures

From the source!! The Real Estate Information Network is the local MLS service for Hampton Roads(Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, New Port News, Hampton and Smithfield). Great news for the start of 2013! This start continues a trend present since Fall 2011.

The Hampton Roads real estate market is off to an optimistic start for 2013. The number of
residential homes for sale significantly dropped when compared to January 2012, resulting in a lower
month’s supply of inventory. Residential settled sales and residential under contracts both experienced
double digit percentage year-over-year increases.

The number of residential homes for sale in January 2013 was down 10.75% when compared to
the same time last year. Of the regions seven major cities (Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News,
Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach) Chesapeake and Virginia Beach experienced the largest
year-over-year declines in residential active listings at 19.01% and 16.87% respectively. Portsmouth was the only city not to experience a year-over-year decline as residential active listings increased 2.05%. The drop in active listings has resulted in a low 6.18 months’ supply inventory which is down 17.6% from January 2012 when it was 7.5 months.

Residential under contracts showed promising numbers during January 2013 with an increase of
14.14% when compared to January 2012. Suffolk and Chesapeake saw the largest year-over-year
increases of 39.74% and 25.54% respectively, while Hampton experienced the smallest year-over-year increase of 3.74%. Portsmouth was the only city not to see a year-over-year gain, with residential under contracts down 14.12%.

Residential settled sales round off the month’s positive trend. January 2013’s residential settled
sales increased 20.66% when compared to January 2012. Suffolk and Hampton substantially contributed to this increase as they saw year-over-year gains in residential settled sales of 59.26% and 40% respectively. Norfolk experienced the smallest year-over-year gain of 3.87% and Portsmouth saw no gain at all as residential settled sales dropped 1.18% year-over-year. The median residential sales price is currently $193,000, a 10.63% increase from $174,450 in January 2012.

The distressed homes market, those that are either bank owned or short sales, continue to
impact the region’s real estate market. Distressed homes accounted for 34.88% of residential settled
sales during January 2013. This is the highest percentage since February 2012 when distressed homes
accounted for 36.39% of residential settled sales. As for residential homes for sale, 27% of the listings in January 2013 were distressed properties. This percentage has fluctuated between 22% and 28% over.

The last 18 months. There appears to be an upward trend in both active and sold distressed residential
properties starting in August 2012.

Under Contract (Pending) Residential Sales
Total residential under contract sales increased by 14.14% when compared to January 2012 (1,663 vs. 1,457).

Sales
Total property sales and total residential sales increased when compared to January 2012 showing increases of 21.23% and 20.66% respectively.

Inventory
There is currently 6.18 months’ inventory of residential homes on the market in the Hampton Roads area, an increase from last month (5.91) and down 17.6% from January 2012 when it was 7.5 months.

* Total Property statistics include all property types (Residential, Commercial, Duplex, Apartment and Land & Farms), resale and new construction.
* Months’ Supply Inventory estimates the number of months it will take to deplete current active inventory based on the prior 12 months average sales activity.

About REIN
Real Estate Information Network, Inc., (REIN) serves real estate brokers in the Tidewater / Hampton
Roads area of Virginia from Williamsburg east to Virginia Beach and south to the North Carolina border.
REIN is an independent MLS owned by broker stockholder members. Currently there are approximately 530 real estate firms with 650 offices, 5700 real estate agents, and 150 appraiser members using REIN.